COOK—THE COCONUT PALM IN AMERICA. 329 
Even when actually hung up or kept in the house coconuts will 
often germinate and grow a plant 2 feet or more in height. In fact 
they often do much better when treated this way than when, buried 
in the ground too soon, and it is the regular custom in some tropical 
countries to germinate coconuts in sheds before planting them in the 
ground. 
Nevertheless it is difficult to believe that the moisture of the nut 
and its husk can sustain the plant for so long a period. The possi- 
bility that atmospheric moisture is drawn upon to replenish the sup- 
ply may be worthy of consideration, though it seems not to have been 
regarded in studies of the germination of the coconut. Thus Kirk- 
wood and Gies declare: 
Neither the husk nor the shell appears to serve any other than passive mechanical 
function, and only the constituents of the endosperm and milk, so far as the nut is 
concerned, nourish the young plant before it finds in the soil the elements provided 
there in abundance for its growth to maturity. . 
The lowest part of the stem contains almost as little solid matter and is nearly as 
watery as the cotyledon. The percentage of water in the stem diminishes as the 
distance away from the ‘‘root crown” increases. The watery condition of the lower 
part of the stem is increased, doubtless, by the fact that the surrounding husk is 
impregnated with water, thus favoring direct absorption by osmosis and at the same 
time preventing evaporation from the surface of the growing tissue. 
But on a previous page these writers have referred to chemical 
analyses which support in a striking manner the suggestion that the 
husk of the coconut may be able to collect moisture for the benefit of 
the young plant, and that it is the husk for which the plant makes 
demands of salt and potash. 
Bachofen’s results indicate that sodium chloride and potassium phosphate are the 
chief inorganic matters drawn upon in the development of the cocoanut—chemical 
data in harmony with the fact that the cocoa palm does not thrive away from the 
coast or where salt is lacking in the soil.} 
A summary of Bachofen’s analysis is also given, showing that of the 
important ingredients of the soil 1,000 nuts remove the following 
quantities: 
| | 
Total in | Portion 
pounds. | in husk, 
{ 
Nitrogen ........2... eee eee nee eee etter e eee e center secre sess esr esstsssensnssssss 8. 65 3.70 
Phosphoric acid 2.45 84 
Potash. .....----- eee eee ee ee eee eee teeter ee eeteees 18.75 13. 52 
Lime. . cece cee cee cee eee ee eee ee eter teen eee e rere 2. 30 1.82 
Sodium chloride...........--.-.-2-0- 20. e eee eee eee eet terete 21. 42 20. 23 
This means that each coconut husk contains about a tablespoonful 
of salt, to say nothing of the lime and potash, the presence of which 
a Kirkwood and Gies, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, vol. 29, pp. 352, 357. 
(1902.) 
b Kirkwood and Gies, loc. cit., p. 334. 
